Our hallway is blocked by two huge boxes containing the new chicken house. The blurb insists it will take between ten and fifteen minutes to convert these two flat-packs into the house and run but having experienced the joys of self-assembly before, I remain sceptical.

The chicken house which Mum gave me is made from re-used wood and isn’t as watertight as it needs to be. It soaks up water from beneath, which is very bad for the birds’ health. Plus we wanted to give them a bigger run anyway. So I scoured the internet and found something much better. All I have to do now is assemble it then we can have our hall back and Hattie and Joyce can move house (again!)

I’m just back from a trip into the village. There’s an icy wind coming off the sea today but it’s pleasant once you get walking. I’d tackle the flat-packs now but the light will be fading soon, and so instead I’ll update this blog - which now gets auto-shipped from LiveJournal.

So what’s new?

Well, I’ve now completed the first draft of Bethany Rose, and am happy with where it ended. To explain, I began writing Bethany’s story with the idea that the MS would finish in the present time. Half way through writing it, I knew this was simply not going to happen and so it took me a few days to figure out a way round this. However, the novel now ends at the close of a major, clear-cut phase of her life. And as not much new happens for a few years after this - which would be boring to write and read anyway! - it’s a good place to end. Obviously there’s a lot of work to be done on the MS before anyone could call it finished in the true sense; the first draft is like the skeleton on which editing and polishing hangs the flesh of the book (more or less; the analogy soon heads onto shaky ground so let’s just skip that bit.)

Riverside Writers meet next Monday (Dec 21st), and this month’s writing theme was suggested by Carol Falaki, and is “The Melting Glacier.”

So is global warming for real or not? Again, I’m sceptical - not just because of the recent questions raised over the honesty of the data which seems to indicate global warming, but because we’ve only been measuring the weather for around 150 years. In the life of this planet, that’s a ridiculously miniscule timescale on which to judge anything.

When Vikings first landed on what became named Greenland, the weather was mild and according to their own records they were able to raise crops readily. That’s why the land was called “Green.” However, the weather changed and they died. They starved and froze to death, and this was apparently part of a cycle which the natives of Greenland already knew about. Who’s to say that the whole Earth doesn’t go through similar cycles of warming and cooling? Some scientists say it does just this, and that we’re about to enter a period of cooling. Time will tell, hmm? Meanwhile, a lot of money is being made peddling “green” stuff.

Also new… Take a peek at Spooky Cute Designs site, as I’ve been adding a huge amount of new items. There’s now a collection of greetings cards, nature scenes taken from our photography files. Plus there’re more designs in the entire collection. Discover what’s new for yourself and let me know what you think!

Spooky cute Designs: http://www.zazzle.com/AdeleCB

Also new… I’ve added a few new Hubpages, which are small non-fiction essays covering a wide range of topics, from recipes to an oil portrait of Vlad Dracula. Rummage around for yourself and see what takes your fancy. http://hubpages.com/profile/AdeleCosgro..veBray

If you’re looking for something to read, then I have to recommend Peter V Brett’s The Painted Man which I thoroughly enjoyed. Well written with strong and believable characters, it offers an unusual plotline which places various people in different locations who gradually come together to fight for survival. A real page-turner, this one.